"College graduates should not have to live out their 20s in their childhood bedrooms, staring up at fading Obama posters and wondering when they can move out and get going with life." -- Rep. Paul Ryan

Many Americans got their first good, long look at vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan Wednesday night, as he gave his keynote at the Republican National Convention, formally accepting the VP nomination. Early reaction was overwhelmingly positive: The Huffington Post went with a bold headline: "Ascension." Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was moved to tears. James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal quipped, "To judge by the applause just now, lots of delegates have adult kids living at home."

Huckabee and Romney are still opponents, but are "not opposing each other"

"Four years ago, Mitt Romney and I were opponents. We still are. But we're not opposing each other. We are mutual opponents of the failed experiments that have put this country in a downward spiral." -- Gov. Mike Huckabee

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a past Republican Presidential candidate (and now conservative talk show host) returned to the RNC stage touting his new allegiance with 2008 primary foe Mitt Romney. Many were interested to see if Huckabee would make reference to polarizing Missouri Rep. Todd Akin, but he steered clear of the controversy Wednesday night.

"A little girl grows up in Jim Crow Birmingham ... her parents can’t take her to a movie theater or a restaurant, but they make her believe that even though she can’t have a hamburger at the Woolworth’s lunch counter, she can be President of the United States and she becomes the Secretary of State. Yes, America has a way of making the impossible seem inevitable in retrospect." -- Former Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice

Condoleezza Rice returned to the national stage at this year's convention after keeping a relatively low profile since returning to Stanford University as a professor following the end of Pres. George W. Bush's second term. She warned that President Obama's policies were threatening many of the ideals the country was founded upon, and spoke ominously of increased trade with China.

"I get asked all the time if I've ever played basketball with President Obama. The answer is: No, I'm still waiting for that invitation. The next question is: Do you think you can take him one-on-one? I said I really don't know, I've never seen him play. But I can tell you this: President Obama would be easy to defend, because you know he's always going to go to his left."

South Dakota's junior senator says he's a big sports fan, and he even played college basketball at Biola University, so he started off his speech on Wednesday by setting up a joke about President Obama's political tendencies that went over well with the crowd in Tampa. (Watch the video.)

Bonus Video: Surprise wedding proposal at the convention center

"I thought there was something fishy when he said that there was a sound problem, because there never is." -- Laura Bowman, 27, an RNC production coordinator on her fiance's excuse for luring her to the stage for his marriage proposal Wednesday morning.